Article/Column

Global warming - not the change we need

by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings

Last week, I addressed a national conference sponsored by Howard University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on the importance of training more minority scientists to address the challenge of climate change.

Our vision of environmental justice extends beyond the social inequity inherent in the current shortfall of minorities working in this area.  The long-term survival of many of our communities is at risk.
 
Far too often in the past, African Americans and other minorities have been so preoccupied with putting food on the table that we have not responded effectively while the plants where we worked poisoned the air and the water that we were drinking. We learned, to our dismay, that if we do not take action to protect our own health and safety, it is highly unlikely that anyone else will.

Now, a growing body of scientific evidence confirms that human-caused changes in our climate are underway – changes that pose long-term dangers to African American communities.

Some wish to dismiss this evidence.  Yet, any prudent policy analysis takes into account both the probability that a risk will be realized and the adverse impact of that risk, should it occur.

As to the probability of severe, long-term damage, we now know that the average global temperature has gone up by more than 1.0 degree Fahrenheit since 1900 - and that most of this warming has occurred since the 1970s.  In all probability, we soon will exceed the maximum global temperature experienced by any human civilization in history.

Even more alarming, projections in the latest report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warn that the average surface temperature of our planet may well increase by an additional 2.0 to 11.5 °F during the remainder of the 21st Century.

Although there are skeptics, most credible scientists now conclude that the driving forces have been human activities that produce "greenhouse gases," like carbon dioxide and methane.  Even non-scientists can see the consequences of climate change that are staring us in the face.

In recent years, we have witnessed drought in Africa, shrinkage of the Arctic and Greenland ice sheets, rising sea levels, shifts in fisheries and more intense hurricanes in the Atlantic.  These generally observable changes have led to a growing sense of public urgency about climate change among scientists and policy makers alike.

In these debates, two chilling projections have been made crystal clear.

First, unless we act now to minimize the negative impacts of climate change, all of humanity will suffer. 

Second, minority communities will endure a disproportionate share of the costs if we fail. 

If global warming continues unabated, coastal regions with large urban populations will be at serious risk - and not simply from rising sea levels.  The intensity and pattern of storms may well cause far more serious damage than in the past.

In addition, changes in rainfall patterns may well reduce the food supplies that are available, increasing their cost at the grocery store - and the same may be true of the clean water that we need to survive.

Those who doubt the risks that we face should recall the droughts and the water shortages that we recently experienced in Maryland.  They should think about the availability of affordable food and other basic necessities if changing rainfall patterns dramatically reduce agricultural productivity.

Most of all, we must never forget how the poor, elderly and minorities suffered disproportionately as a result of the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.

These are just some of the reasons that I have been pressing for comprehensive action in the House of Representatives.

I supported H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, that would establish a cap-and-trade system designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from covered sources by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 (and by 83% below 2005 levels by 2050).  We passed this bill last June, but only by a recorded vote of 219-212 (with 168 of the 174 Republicans voting "No").

I disagree with the Republicans' "do nothing" stance, although I must acknowledge that reasonable people can disagree about whether this "cap and trade" approach is the most effective strategy.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich [D-OH], for example, has argued that the bill's greenhouse gas reduction targets are too weak, their imposition too slow, and the use of offsets insufficiently effective.

Although my colleague's considerations are compelling, they were outweighed in my judgment by our need to act with a sense of urgency.

Our narrow victory in the House of Representatives illustrates the continuing political power of the status quo forces.  That opposition may be even more difficult to overcome in the Senate – a challenge that illustrates a broader obstacle that we must overcome in the years ahead.
 
We need a stronger, evidence-based movement that can drive the hard policy decisions that we must undertake.  If we fail, Americans of Color, once again, may bear a disproportionate share of the cost.

If we do not train the scientists and other leaders who will protect our families and the generations yet to be born from these dangers, who will?  This is why we must do far more to recruit and train our best and brightest young people in science, engineering, mathematics and technology.

They will be our essential allies in our continuing struggle for environmental justice in the days and years ahead.

We are living in a time of change, but global warming is not the change that we need.

- The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.